Because We Will Return
by The Death of You
Summary: Before Edward gets a chance to tell the Cullens that they're leaving, Alice knows. These are her thoughts on the subject. Set during New Moon. One-shot.


Before he tells me, before he even arrives at the house, I know what he's going to say

Before he tells me, before he even arrives at the house, I know what he's going to say.

"We're dangerous. I can't put her in danger any longer."

I know the pain will break through his carefully composed barrier then, and I know exactly how his face will contort.

I know how he will argue with Emmett, with Esme, with myself. Trying to convince us to believe what he knows to be untrue. I know that it won't be long before he cracks, before his angry shout rings through the house.

I can see in my head the shocked expressions on my family's faces. None of them have ever seen him like this. He has always been the picture of composure. Emmett and Jasper have been trying to make him crack for decades. Emmett once said he'd kill again for a chance to know what would do it. Well, soon he will. But Emmett won't try to make him crack anymore. Not like that. We all know what it must be like for him, even Rosalie, who just refuses to believe he could love a human. That he thinks a human could have more beauty than her. I imagine Emmett will go back to his old ways, after time. That we all will. Edward included.

Because we _will_ come back. I know it.

I know he says he says we won't. That he won't let us. And his future reflects that. But I of all people know just how temporary the future really is. How unstable, how unpredictable.

Edward, though.. he _is_ predictable. Just like the glare he will shoot me when he hears the way I'm thinking. But I must have another hour, at least, before he comes. Only one hour, to dissect the words he will choose, to try and find one tiny loophole that will let me see her again.

He won't let me go to school tomorrow. Or any day. Not until we leave Forks. He knows that I'll crack, that I'll tell her he loves her, that she can't let him leave.

Or that I'll find some way to leave her a message, a way to contact me.

Or at least find a way to say goodbye.

Because that, apparently, is the last thing we want. He wants her to think we'll forget her before we even leave. He thinks that those thoughts will make getting over him easier.

He treats this situation like it's her calculus homework. Something that you can use shortcuts on. He thinks a "clean break" – those are the words he'll use, to us and to her – will make the pain less. As if it would ever work.

And he'll ignore the visions that I know I'll fling at him in one last desperate attempt, before he makes me promise not to seek out her future. He won't give a second thought to the visions of her, dead. And maybe she won't be, in the literal sense, but she will be in every other way. He'll find some excuse, maybe convince himself that I fabricated them. It is possible to lie with your thoughts.

And, as much as I wish it wasn't true, I know that even if our leaving would have no effect on her whatsoever, I would be trying to convince him to stay.

Because even though vampires rarely change, rarely find love for anyone, when they do, it is permanent. And because I love Bella - not the way Edward does, of course, but as a friend - it still hurts, though I know we'll be back. Because, even though I know he will crack eventually, it might be years before he does. He's always had the most self-control of us all. He doesn't think so, he thinks that it's Carlisle who's the strongest in that way, but he's wrong.

And I know that I'll go along with his crazy plan. Because I know what people will do when they are in pain. I've seen people doing horrible things.

Bella has two possible futures. She's going to become one of us, or die. And I know that this is true. At any given time, her future is either one or the other, never anything else. There is no other possible choice. Of course, I can't see either now, because all I'm getting is Bella the walking zombie.

And I just might be following Edward's plan because I want to prove him wrong, because, as much as it may hurt both Bella and I to do it, the annoying little sister inside me wants to tell him "I told you so."

And those are the exact words I'll use when he tells me I've won.

But words... they can hurt people. Edward will hurt Bella. More than he thinks he can. He doesn't understand how she loves him. She doesn't understand how he loves her. That's why she'll believe him.

It's al little bit ironic, that I can almost see his intention here. Yes, he wants to leave. But he wants her to call his bluff. He'll wait until she believes him to go, for the sake of the plan, but he thinks he'll have to lie for weeks. He thinks she'll be sure of his love for her.

I thought he knew she was insecure. I thought that was one of the things he was always saying to her. "You don't see yourself clearly at all, do you?"

I thought he knew how unbalanced the relationship seemed to her. That, even hen she was at her most confident, she expected him to walk out the door and go find himself a vampire lover. Someone like Tanya, who Edward would never have feelings for, but who Bella could see him falling for if she did one thing wrong. The poor girl didn't know she had him wrapped around her finger for eternity.

Because it is true. Even though he's leaving, he's coming back. We all will.

I _will_ get to say "I told you so."

I _will _win.

Because we _will _return.

I just know it. And smart people don't bet against Alice Cullen.

At least, that is what the smart people say.

And the last time I checked, Edward was a smart person.


End file.
